سِنْفٌ

A leaf; (M, and so in copies of the K, and in the TA;) or leaves: (so in other copies of the K:) plural سِنْفٌ; thus in the copies of the K, [like the singular,] but this requires consideration; and it seems that it is سُنُوفٌ, a plural assigned to سِنْفٌ in a sense that will be mentioned in what follows: (TA:) [or the plural is سِنَفَةٌ, likewise mentioned, as a plural of سِنْفٌ, in what follows, in three places:] also (K) the leaf of the [tree called] مَرْخ: (AA, S, O, K:) or the pericarp of the مَرْخ: (S, M, O, K:) this, says IB, is the correct meaning, as those acquainted with the مرخ affirm; for, as 'Alee Ibn-Hamzeh says, the مرخ has not leaves, nor thorns, but consists of slender twigs; it grows in [water-courses such as are termed] شُعَب: (TA:) a poet likens thereto the ears of horses: (S:) the plural is سِنَفَةٌ: (M:) or the pericarps of any tree having a produce consisting of grains in a long pod, (AHn, O, K,) that become scattered, when they dry, from that pod, the shale thereof remaining; (AHn, O;) one such pod is termed ↓ سِنْفَةٌ; (AHn, O, K;) and the plural [or coll. gen. n.] is سِنْفٌ; (K;) and this last has for its plural سِنَفَةٌ: (AHn, O, K:) Aboo-Ziyád says that it is like [the pod of] the بَاقِلَّى [or bean], except that it is wider, and pointed at the extremity; wherefore a poet likens thereto the ear of a horse: (O:) or, according to AHn, ↓ سِنْفَةٌ signifies any pericarp, whether oblong or not oblong; and the plural [or coll. gen. n.] is سِنْفٌ; and the plural of سِنْفٌ is سِنَفَةٌ: (M:) [see also حُبْلَةٌ:] and the shale of the [bean called] بَاقِلَّاء, and of the [species of kidney-bean called] لُوبِيَاء, and of the lentil, and the like; (IAar, TA;) or the shale of the first of these three when what was in it has been eaten; (K;) and the plural is سُنُوفٌ. (IAar, TA.)

Also, (K,) or ↓ سَنْفٌ, with fet-h, (IAar, O, L,) A branch, or twig, (عُودٌ,) stripped of its leaves. (IAar, O, L, K.)

And the former, The [grain called] دَوْسَر [i. e. زُوءَان, q. v.,] which is sometimes in wheat and barley, (O, K,) and which vitiates them, and lowers their prices. (O.)

-A2- Also i. q. صِنْفٌ [A sort, or species]. (K.) One says, هٰذَا طَعَامٌ سِنْفَانِ [This is food, or wheat,] of two sorts, good and bad. (AA, O.)

And A company of men. (Ibn-'Abbád, O, K.) One says, جَاءَنِى سِنْفٌ مِنَ النَّاسِ A company of men came to me. (Ibn- 'Abbád, O.)